KEEPING FIT AND ALL RARING TO GO…

WATCHING FROM HIGH UP

 So we got up in the morning a bit later than usual, it being Sunday. Miu, our cat didn’t come in to wake us up. If we sleep in a little too late, she saunters in and stands by the side of the bed and meows in the intonation of a question. It’s a rising intonation, falling a little towards the end and rising again, just a fraction of a decibel…..` Are you going to stay in bed the whole day?’….. It’s a singularly human trait that she’s picked up from us. She’s been with us for fifteen years and some of our mannerisms have rubbed off on her. This morning, in mid March, the first month of spring….. when hedges are green and trees are budding and the early flowering bushes of fuchsia and cream daisies wait to catch the first glimmers of the pale morning sun….. it seemed strangely quieter than usual. The birds had not come out to twitter and chitter about their labour of love, of building new nests in the hidden boughs of our lemon and orange trees. I peered out the window with half open eyes. The sky was a little grey and weepy. The leaves appeared wet, so it must have rained the night before. The sun looked like a poached egg, an opaque layer of white, covering the orange yolk, just waiting to run streaks of yellow into the sky.

Yiannis went down to start our breakfast…brew the coffee and drop the slices of bread into the toaster. I used to do that before but our roles seemed to have changed. Now I get to lie down and stare at the ceiling for an extra five minutes. Breakfast is the one meal I really look forward to….but unfortunately it has to be earned in our house, the domain of one recent retiree….myself ….and the other…..still marching on. We practise postponed gratification, resisting the temptation of relishing the first cup of coffee and munching into lovely crispy golden toast until….. we’ve done our keep fit routine to shake off the last dregs of sleep and trigger off the ` get up and go ‘ in us. We start with a combination of yoga stretches, we’re calling it that at least…..that’s the nice thing about being in this generation, you get to redefine things and not be too bothered about stretches with elbows bent and knees slightly buckled. Then we ratchet up the pace by swinging our arms and legs, pulling our ears with arms crossed and going down into a half squatting position, since we can’t do the full squat, and rising on shivery knees. Don’t laugh…..it’s from a reliable source….. sister number one from Malaysia who believes in the well-being of others, sent us this You Tube of some traditional, aging but sprightly Chinese doctor promising that it will get our energies….. our ` chi[s]’…..all excited and jumping about and our ` yin[s]’ and ` yang[s] ‘ swinging back to optimum mental and physical balance. Then we shuffle in a little cardio into the act….jogging around the dining table a couple of times to get our hearts pumping, some push ups of our own making where our tummies hardly rise above the floor, isometrics against  doorjambs, lintels and walls and other miscellaneous breathing and bending. When one of us daydreams, the other one makes grunting noises….a gentle reminder to get back in line. All this goes on while Miu watches us from the staircase in bemusement bordering on ennui.

 I first ventured into yoga when sister number two had given me this enormous yoga book, worth its weight in good health, with a whole philosophy and detailed photographs of the various poses. There was also a section devoted to meditation….sit down on the floor in lotus fashion, look outside towards the sky and gaze at God’s creation and gradually empty your mind of rampant thoughts, slow down your breathing and be one with the cosmic forces. I thought I’d start with that but …. the lotus pose was causing great suffering and numbness. Then there were birdcalls and catcalls and the neighbours’ children screaming that interfered with my vibrational frequency….I couldn’t crank it up to this high pitched…..p..i..n..g….. My mind kept slipping back into the past of undone tasks and unfulfilled ambitions and the future of some bucket list. But failure, however, has never stopped me. I always regard it as a fresh new challenge. So I decided to try it on Yiannis when he trudged back from some construction site in a cloud of dust with the banging and drilling still echoing in his ears. I was determined to get him into some meditative state, to rise above his shuddering low frequency vibrational field….` What?….. Sit on the floor in a lotus pose?….. What’s that?….. No, no don’t tell me…..forget it! I’m sitting in my armchair!’ ….. So armchair it was….` Now start breathing in….. concentrate on each breath…..inhale and exhale slowly….in and out….. in and out …..no, no, don’t shut your eyes…..Too late. He had dipped into this low vibrational doze…..chest heaving gently, breathing heavily and snorting out a couple of snores.

Once, after a bout of flu, I went for a medical examination at the teaching hospital in Heraklion. We entered the doctor’s office and she motioned for us to sit down. She studied my file, then looked up with a` zen’ calm and a faint smile playing on her lips and asked me …..` Do you exercise? ‘…..I said…. ` yes ‘…..it wasn’t a lie. Then she followed up with…..` What kind of exercise? I could see Yiannis looking at me from the corner of my eye…..` Yoga ‘….. I said. Other people might call it ` pretend yoga ‘…..but it still wasn’t an absolute lie. Then suddenly to our utter amazement, she broke out of her zen composure and exclaimed in enthusiasm…..` I knew you were going to say that!’  Was it because I hailed from some South East Asian shore that I was attributed with these exotic mystic tendencies? Before I could fully reflect on it, she plied me with yet another question….. ` What type of yoga? ‘….. I didn’t know there were types. I thought it was just plain old yoga. I was groping for something to say and I could see Yiannis with a look of….how’s she going to get out of this one?….. But the cosmic forces were with me…..the doctor smiled at me with a certain camaraderie and asked….. ` Hatha yoga? ‘….. I’m ashamed to say this but I said….` yes ‘….. and she appeared satisfied …..we were yoga mates. I walked out of the doctor’s office, a born again` sadhaka’….. a follower of yoga…. and this time of hatha yoga.

Well before we had embarked on our fitness regime, this friend of mine had asked me if I wanted to join her exercise class. It was a class of people much older than us…..so I wasn’t too keen and couldn’t understand what she was doing there. Apparently it was a martial arts class…..kung fu….. with a group of senior citizens…..much more senior than us….. kicking and punching into the air and screaming and yelling. I later found out that one dropped out because of dementia….. she couldn’t keep in step with the rest of the class but was doing her own thing quietly, in a corner. The teacher tried to get her back into the fold….. rang her several times but she wouldn’t pick up. Then two others died….. I’m not sure whether it was peacefully. Once again my friend urged me to join and make up for the dwindling numbers….. ` WHAT??? NO THANK YOU! ‘…..They were dropping like flies in there. Then two weeks later she called to say that the teacher broke her leg and the DO IT LIKE BRUCE LEE class folded up.  

Coming back to Yiannis and myself, after we’ve panted it out…..we haven’t broken out into a sweat yet….we’re still working on that….we finally get to sit down to our morgenmete, our long awaited morning meal. On weekdays after breakfast, Yiannis usually rushes off to work. I trot after him and send him off into the big bad world, wishing him a good day and chasing it up with…..` hey, put that bounce back in your stride! ‘…….` You too ‘ he says. ` YES’ I exclaim with an all raring to go voice and amble back to the kitchen, slouch into the chair and continue with my coffee and reading the news on my mobile phone.

Cheerio! Would love to hear your comments.

A TOUCH OF ENNUI

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6 Comments

  1. Children at play!😂! How wonderful ! Although I don’t think that Miu shares my comment. She’s probably wondering what she’s done to deserve these companions.

  2. Beautiful!!! You always transport me right into your stories!!! Today though, I was also entertained! I smiled, laughed and pondered on how how true (oh, my… really true 🤣) what you described is to some of us of a certain age! 😍

    1. Thank you for your comments. I’m so glad you could connect to our predicament. Great to be able to laugh about it.😂😍

  3. Have Gun – Will Travel, an American western series aired on TV in the days gone by.
    For us folks, now, it would be Have Yoga – Will Travel!